The darkness between us
by alienblood
Summary: Lina & Doon have 17 years and still live to Ember, the story centers on two main characters struggling with their emotions, feelings and e darkness is the only thing that terrifies them but will also be the thing that will make them closer.


From Lina Mayfleet's diary:

Sunday, 14th April 2218

Dear Diary,

Today I turn 17,

seventeen years in this doomed city,

it's been four years since I started working as a messenger

and the blackouts have become longer and frequent,

the other day Doon told me the electricians

are doing what they can to keep the generator alive

and from the next month the lights will be turned off at night,

which will surely save us electricity

but I'm not very convinced of this because the darkness

is the only thing that scares me.

Anyway, for what concerns my

birthday party, it will not be held,

because since when my parents died

I don't feel like celebrating and because I have no friends,

except for Doon, but celebrating my birthday alone with him

doesn't seem like a good idea to me,

we have grown up now… and then there's the fact I like him so much,

I liked him since we were kids.

"Lina my dear, happy birthday!"

The lady with red hair entered the room with a wide smile on her face, distracting Lina and making her close her beloved diary with a quick movement.

"Thank you, Mrs. Murdo" The blond girl replied with a forced smile.

"Is there something wrong maybe? Today is your birthday, you should be happy! And I must have told you a million times you can call me Evaleen, my dear; It's been four years since you and Poppy started living with me." Mrs. Murdo said, observing the small but cozy room she diligently cleaned and prepared for Lina and her sister some years ago.

When Lina was still living with her grandmother, she had a completely different idea of Mrs. Murdo; she remembered visiting her along with her parents, she also remembered she seemed a kind and nice lady who really knew how to bake cakes and various sweets with everything the Ember Warehouse could offer at the time.

Then when Lina and her sister moved with Mrs. Murdo, she began to know her better, she sure still was a kind and nice woman but she didn't seem at all worried about the future, the blackouts and the lack of food; she always stated that soon the builders which inhabited the land above would have descended to rescue them. Lina and Doon were not sure of that, neither of them, and even her parents knew it, but after all she had to acknowledge she was the only one that took care of them after their grandmother died and she allowed them to live with her in her house.

"Sure, It's just… I have a headache, it will go away eventually." Said the girl touching her forehead with her hand. She didn't really have an headache. Lately she couldn't manage to feel happy but she just didn't tell anyone, and the only occasions where she was feeling happy were the times spent with her best friend and those during her job, running and carrying messages around from person to person. When she was running she imagined to be in a green field, with the sun in front of her and the wind caressing her long blond hair, like in a fairy tale. But anyway happiness isn't a thing you can reach, happiness is a state of mind.

"Well, wake up Poppy then and have breakfast, have a cup of tea" said Evaleen observing the little girl still laying on the bed, before going to the kitchen.

Lina nodded and she got up from the chair against her will, but she realized she was only wearing her panties and a vest, so she grabbed the sweater her grandma knitted for her many years before. She glanced at the mirror and noticed her body had really changed for good, and her long hair had the color of ripe wheat, as always held together by a red ribbon that once belonged to her mother. She wore the sweater and sat by the bed, in front of her sister's little body, she poked her back to wake her up and sighed knowing that day would have been really boring because it was Sunday and she didn't even have to go to work.

"Come on boy, we have to check on tunnel 19, the main pipe is leaking again"

Doon sighed with pain, he woke up really early in the morning, plus the pipeline was getting more and more damaged every day and it needed a lot of work and controls. Even the littlest leak was an emergency job, as there wasn't plenty of water in the city now.

"It's the same as last week and it'll be the same as the next week, it should be repaired, we patched that pipe so many times there isn't even a metal part in it anymore, what the fuck!" Sul slapped the boy with the dark hair, watching him in reprimand.

"You're not using this words in front of me, also I had told you a million times that we haven't received new pipes in years. What do you prefer? To drink the water that's gonna flood us all?"

Doon massaged his head taking his leather gloves off, looked down and observed he was the only one along with her friend Lina to think all this wouldn't have last forever.

"Forgive me, but sometimes I feel like I'm the only one here worrying about everything" Doon resumed his walk towards tunnel 19, submerged in dirt and limestone with which he learned to work, as he had been working in the pipeline for 4 years now, and he knew the exact location of every tunnel.

Sul forgot about what the boy had just said and mumbled something about youth as he was following him fast. They got to the tunnel in a minute or two and they found a large pool of water under the pipe that needed another repair.

"We should replace some patches, they are completely wet and can't do their work", said the old plumber plugging his helmet's light in an electrical outlet.

They had spent an hour taking care of the old patches as the boy, exhausted, took some duct tape and some new patches from the toolbox, but as soon as he got back up a pipe burst from the wall and hit him in the head.

"Hell, it hurts a lot…"

The pipe hit him so fast he fainted. Sul saw Doon slip on the ground in a pool of water, with a giant bruise on his head.

"Oh dear god, boy!" The white haired man shouted running to ask for help, as the water was now leaking from the ceiling too.

Doon slowly opened his eyes, but hit by a strong headache he immediately closed them again. As soon as he tried to touch his forehead with his hand, he felt another hand gently touching him.

"Good morning, sleepyhead" He would have recognized that voice between a thousand, even if he had heard it muffled by the pain.

"Lina? What are you doing here?" He asked as he again tried to open his eyes and recognizing the infirmary's walls, which received the injured people from both the pipeline and the generator.

"Today is my free day so I thought I could come around at the pipes, but someone told me to look for you", said the girl starting a slight laugh that soon spread to Doon too.

"Yeah, a pipe just decided to have some fun and hit me in the face" said Doon sitting on the infirmary bed massaging his head.

"It sure has to hurt a lot, you have a bruise near your right eye and a scratch all over your cheek" She said, worried, looking at his best friend.

Doon looked more or less the same as he was fourteen, he had just become taller and his build had become tougher by working at the pipeline, where he often had to carry very heavy equipment. Lina observed his facial outline, his thin lips, uplifted cheeks, straight nose and field-green eyes. She could have died looking forever in his eyes, as he found him handsome, even if he was covered in scratches and bruises. She smiled as she felt a warm feeling in her stomach. Now she could not deny she had fell in love with him.

"I brought you some more ice" The blond girl sat on the bed next to him, slowly putting the ice bag near his right eye.

"Thank you" Doon said smiling. "It has been a hard day, the pipeline is more and more damaged from day to day, hopefully I will get back home soon, I just want to take off this wet suit off"

Lina peeked out from the infirmary window, melancholically looking at the artificial light that lighted the rooftops, and she asked herself how the real sun would have looked like, and she tried to imagine the warm feeling of having the sunrays touching her skin. In Ember, a city built under the ground, it was cold every day of the year, and she had spent so much time in there she couldn't tell cold from warm.

Doon looked at the girl as she was lost in her thoughts, he said to himself she was the prettiest creature he had ever seen, and his eyes looked at her little and beautiful lips he had long imagined to kiss.

"Lina, is everything alright?" asked the boy with curly black hair touching her friend's hand with a finger.

"Yes Doon, but now I've got to go, I have to walk Poppy to her friend's sleepover, and then I have to help Mrs. Murdo with the dinner."

Lina sighed watching his friend in his eyes, and with some courage she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, he smelled like water and had a soft skin, she would have hugged him and she would have stayed there with him if she only could have. Maybe she would have walked him home, but she didn't want to put their friendship in danger, she didn't want to lose him.

She turned away to hide her cheeks blushing, and you could notice her embarrassment just by looking at her. She quickly got out and walked towards home, reflecting on how these days she hadn't seen Doon so much, because of their jobs and for the fear of the blackouts, maybe she could have told him she had missed him so badly and it was nice to see him again. She was slowly walking in the streets of Ember with a mix of sadness and disappointment in her face, thinking that the only person she wanted to receive a "happy birthday" from did perhaps forget about her birthday. Or maybe he just had something else to worry about.

She was near the last corner from home when, suddenly, a loud noise burst through the air, Lina closed her eyes freezing in the middle of the street.

"No, not another time" She whispered to herself.

Some lights went off, and then more of them did the same, as the air was full of tension and everyone was shouting, as some lights exploded. In a moment, she grabbed a cement pillar, starting to pray for that hell to last as few seconds as possible, then the city went completely dark.

Children were crying and screaming for their mother, those mothers were screaming for their children. She hated all of this; she was so scared she could barely breathe.

"Please light, please, please, please…"

She carried on whispering against the pillar as a tear shed down to her cheek.

Two minutes had passed, Lina's legs broke down making her body touch the ground, when finally a red flare lighted the sky. She felt a familiar hand touch her shoulder. Lina quickly got up recognizing her friend's face, lighted by the red flare, and without even thinking of it she threw herself into his arms, not caring about wetting herself with his suit, she hugged him and cried to relieve the tension. In that moment Doon was, to Lina, as air after a deep dive, or as an island in the middle of a stormy sea. She put her face against his neck as the boy hugged her firmly, reassuring her.

"Don't worry Lina, I'm here with you"

"I missed you Doom, I missed you so much..."

"I missed you too. Happy Birthday, Lina."

He softly kissed her forehead as the power was coming back.

Author's corner: it's been a long time since I wrote my last fanfiction. I wrote this one because I had first seen this film many years ago, and some day ago I watched it again, and I began shipping the two main characters awfully.

I've never read the book, so I don't know if the lights are turned off during the night, according the book and in the movie it isn't specified.

I've been looking for this book recently but I never find it or I don't have enough money with me the rare times I find it cwc, but soon I will start my searching again. I put the M rating because in the next chapter there'll be a not well detailed love scene. I'm sorry if I made the characters a little OOC but they've grown up after all (in the movie they were thirteen and fourteen years old).

I really hope someone will read and like my story… so, if you dear reader are reading this it means I was right!

So, leave a review so I will know how you feel about this and I'll know if you want to read the next chapter, cheers!


End file.
